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Разделенный человек
Последний роман великого фантаста и футуролога Олафа Стэплдона, наиболее известного по первой в мировой литературе масштабной "истории будущего". Роман, в котором отражены последние поиски гения; роман, который стал его творческим завещанием...
История раздвоения личности, место и время действия - Англия между мировыми войнами. Люди перестают узнавать Виктора Смита, которого считали пустым снобом и щеголем. Внезапно он становится своей полной противоположностью: любознательным и приятным юношей, который спешит дышать полной грудью, познать вкус борьбы и настоящую любовь. Важнейший вопрос, который изучает "новый" Виктор - предназначение Человечества во Вселенной. Лишь один из близких друзей главного героя начинает понимать, что происходящее объясняется космическим вмешательством...
Уникальный памятник литературы магического реализма, предвосхитивший "Планету Ка-Пэкс" Джина Брюэра и трилогию Филипа Дика "ВАЛИС"!
История раздвоения личности, место и время действия - Англия между мировыми войнами. Люди перестают узнавать Виктора Смита, которого считали пустым снобом и щеголем. Внезапно он становится своей полной противоположностью: любознательным и приятным юношей, который спешит дышать полной грудью, познать вкус борьбы и настоящую любовь. Важнейший вопрос, который изучает "новый" Виктор - предназначение Человечества во Вселенной. Лишь один из близких друзей главного героя начинает понимать, что происходящее объясняется космическим вмешательством...
Уникальный памятник литературы магического реализма, предвосхитивший "Планету Ка-Пэкс" Джина Брюэра и трилогию Филипа Дика "ВАЛИС"!
- GenresScience Fiction
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1950
79 people want to read
About the author
Olaf Stapledon
101 books562 followersExcerpted from wikipedia:
William Olaf Stapledon was a British philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction.
Stapledon's writings directly influenced Arthur C. Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Stanisław Lem, C. S. Lewis and John Maynard Smith and indirectly influenced many others, contributing many ideas to the world of science fiction.
William Olaf Stapledon was a British philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction.
Stapledon's writings directly influenced Arthur C. Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Stanisław Lem, C. S. Lewis and John Maynard Smith and indirectly influenced many others, contributing many ideas to the world of science fiction.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 3, 2017
After this I have one more Stapledon novel (DEATH INTO LIFE) to read, then I'll have read all of his out-of-print fiction. So far, this is only one of Stapledon's out-of-print works I'd like to see make a comeback. A MAN DIVIDED is Stapledon's take on a Jekyll&Hyde-style split personality story, written in a similar fashion to Stapledon's other biographical novels(ODD JOHN and SIRIUS): a friend of the extraordinary individual has written a biography about them. It's been a few years since I read SIRIUS and ODD JOHN, but I feel that I can confidently claim that A MAN DIVIDED is on par with both of them, though it is far less fantastical and much more personal, more grounded in the real world.
Victor, the divided man, has two conflicting personalities:
The Somnolent/Somnambulant/Sleepwalking Self is a classist snob who goes through life on autopilot, pursuing a typical business career, seeking wealth and status, wanting an upper class trophy wife, rarely reflecting on the world, other people, or his actions. Etc.
The Awake/Lucid Self has a strong social conscience and great empathy for the suffering masses; he wants to learn as much about himself and the world as he can, and change both for the better; he falls in love with a not-conventionally-attractive woman from a poor background, because he can see her inner beauty. Etc.
The conflict between the two plays out in a way which still resonates today. When the Lucid Self takes over, he calls off a planned marriage with a rich and attractive woman, because he realises that they do not truly love each other and would just be settling for a stable and socially acceptable, but ultimately unhappy, marriage; he realises that his business career is blind self-service which has made him a cog in an economic machine that exploits the poor and is indifferent to their suffering.
And so he embarks on a new life path.
But the Somnolent Self regains control, and thinks that he's gone through a strange idealistic phase and must get back to real-world, must return to his business career and secure an appropriate and lucrative marriage. He must sort out this mess and go back to chasing wealth and status.
Throughout the course of the novel the two selves develop, both affected by the other. There's a lot to be read into this book, and it certainly feels like the most personal of Stapledon's fiction. (Leslie Fiedler borrowed the title for his early - and problematic - biography of Stapledon, OLAF STAPLEDON: A MAN DIVIDED. Robert Crossley's OLAF STAPLEDON: SPEAKING FOR THE FUTURE is considered the definitive Stapledon biography.) I'd love to see this back in print; it presents Stapledon's ideas in a very different way to his other fiction, on a smaller scale than his future histories and in a story less fantastical than the other two biographical novels.
Victor, the divided man, has two conflicting personalities:
The Somnolent/Somnambulant/Sleepwalking Self is a classist snob who goes through life on autopilot, pursuing a typical business career, seeking wealth and status, wanting an upper class trophy wife, rarely reflecting on the world, other people, or his actions. Etc.
The Awake/Lucid Self has a strong social conscience and great empathy for the suffering masses; he wants to learn as much about himself and the world as he can, and change both for the better; he falls in love with a not-conventionally-attractive woman from a poor background, because he can see her inner beauty. Etc.
The conflict between the two plays out in a way which still resonates today. When the Lucid Self takes over, he calls off a planned marriage with a rich and attractive woman, because he realises that they do not truly love each other and would just be settling for a stable and socially acceptable, but ultimately unhappy, marriage; he realises that his business career is blind self-service which has made him a cog in an economic machine that exploits the poor and is indifferent to their suffering.
And so he embarks on a new life path.
But the Somnolent Self regains control, and thinks that he's gone through a strange idealistic phase and must get back to real-world, must return to his business career and secure an appropriate and lucrative marriage. He must sort out this mess and go back to chasing wealth and status.
Throughout the course of the novel the two selves develop, both affected by the other. There's a lot to be read into this book, and it certainly feels like the most personal of Stapledon's fiction. (Leslie Fiedler borrowed the title for his early - and problematic - biography of Stapledon, OLAF STAPLEDON: A MAN DIVIDED. Robert Crossley's OLAF STAPLEDON: SPEAKING FOR THE FUTURE is considered the definitive Stapledon biography.) I'd love to see this back in print; it presents Stapledon's ideas in a very different way to his other fiction, on a smaller scale than his future histories and in a story less fantastical than the other two biographical novels.
Displaying 1 of 1 review